American nuns, fed up with the Vatican's dissent-squelching bullshit, have fired back at the Pope and his cronies, arguing that cracking down on holy ladies who question the teachings of the Church undermines the entire purpose of Catholicism as an evolving, living faith. Okay — those last two details in the headline are just things that I imagine (hope) happened while the choir invisible covered X-Ray Spex's "Oh! Bondage Up Yours." But the fact remains that the be-habited among us aren't taking the so-called War on Nuns lying down. And while telling a bunch of old celibate guys "no" may not seem like a big deal to people who don't care

Sister Pat Farrell, who heads the organization that represents about 80% of America's 57,000 nuns, has challenged the Vatican's investigation into the sisters. Last week, she went to Rome to address Church leadership findings that showed that nuns were advancing a "radical feminist" agenda and weren't putting enough effort into fighting abortion (feeding and clothing poor people, apparently, should be back burnered in favor of telling women that they must remain pregnant). She told the AP that forced reform within American orders of nuns looked inevitable, but that she thought the whole thing was bullshit. "I don't think this is a healthy environment for the church. We can use this event to help move things in that direction - where it's possible to pose questions that will not be seen as defiance or opposition."